Stopper for bottles or the like.



J. ALLEN.

STOPPER FOR BOTTLES 0R THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 6. |916.

Lm @@45.; Patented Feb. 13, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

JAMES ALLEN, 0F WASHINGTON, DISTRICT 0F COLUMBJIA.

STOPPER FOR, BOTTLES 01B. THE JLI.

Specication of Letters Patent.

rateatea ret. aa, tera.

Application filed'. may 6, 1916. Serial No. 95,935.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES ALLEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, have -invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stoppers for Bottles or the like; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the. invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My present invention relates to improvements in closures for bottles, jugs, demijohns, and other like articles, and is intended to provide a pulling attachment which may be used with a greatly shortened cork or other stopper; there being with the hereinafter described attachment no necessity to have a protruding end of the cork or other stopper to be gripped by the fingers.

My invention is also intended to provide an attachment by means of which the lead foil capsules, or other seals, frequently placed over. the closures ofbottles or like articles, may be conveniently removed incident to the normal operation of pulling the stopper; and also in which the pulling attachment is caused to rupture certain distinguishing seals placed on the bottle neck and stopper.

My invention also relates to certain details of construction, and combination and arrangement of parts which will be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which similar parts are indicated by similar reference symbols throughout the several views.

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the neck of a bottle with the stopper inserted;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the neck of the bottle and stopper shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 shows, on a lar er scale, a cork or stopper provided with t e pulling attachment therein described and claimed;

Fig. 4 is a similar view to Fig. 1, but shows a lead capsule applied to the bottle closure, parts being broken away;

Fig. 5 is a simllar view to Fig l, but shows the two endsof the string free;

Fig. 6 is a detail showing a form of plug adapted to use in the invention, parts being broken away; Y

Fig. 7 is a. perspective View showing the device applied to a bottle provided wlth distinctive seals; and

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the stopper removed from the bottle showing the top seal, parts being broken away.

A represents the neck of the bottle or other article to be closed, in which the cork or stopper B is inserted. A doubled string or wire C is forced through the stopper from the larger towardthe smaller end in any convenient way, as by means of a bodkin or an awl having an eye near its-end, thus forming a loop beneath the stopper.

While I may use either a string, cord, orl

iiexible wire, for convenience of reference the part C, rove through the stopper, will hereinafter in the specication and claims be designated by the term string. rlhe loop of this string below the stopper is then engaged in the hook or eye d at the end of the tapered plug D, and the plug is drawn by the string, and additional force is applied, if desired, until the plug is forced back into the bottom of the stopper, forming a gas and liquid-tight closure for the opening which is made in the stopper incident to the insertion of the string.

The plug is preferably provided with av flanged head d', which serves to prevent the plug from being drawn upward through the stopper, when the stopper is pulled. The tapered 'portion of the plug D will also serve as a yielding resistance to prevent the plug from being drawn upward through the opening in the stopper, and the operation of forcing the plug home to the position shown in Figs.'2 and 3 will eiectually seal the lower and of the opening, as before described.

Where the bottles contain such liquid or other contents as are apt to discolor or be affected by the metal of the plug D, the exposed portions o the plug may be coated with some vitreous composition, shown at d2 in Fig. 6. It is preferable to have this vitreous composition terminate below the hook or eye at the inner end of the plug, so

that as large an opening for the eve may be left as is practicable for the assing of the string thereinto. Moreover, t at portion of the plug will be entirely protected from the passage of the contents of the bottle, owing to the tight closure made by the larger portions of the tapered plug. Where there is any pressure on the inside of the bottle, the flanged head d' will also serve to hold the plug in place, forming a-tight valve.

in Figs. 1, 2 and 5 l have shown the knot gli c in the strin inclosed in the stopper, but if desired the ree ends of'the strin may be projected from the stopper as s own in of the neck of the bottle, -with the looped string -C projecting downward beneath the edge of the same. l

When itis desired to open the bottle, surnply pullingu on the loop of this string w1ll rip the capsu e so that it may be readily removedfrom the bottle, or it may be pulled oli simultaneously. with the pulling of the stopper. ith this arrangement the lead capsule 1s torn and cannot be removed without teariis g the capsule, and consequently cannot be replaced on a refilled bottle without showing that the original package had been tampered with. A

The device used in connection with protective seals is further illustrated in Figs. 7

and 8, in which two separate protective seals are provided instead of a' single capsule, the one seal F being wrapped around the neck of the bottle, and pasted or otherwise secured thereto, and the other seal G being secured to the top'of the stopper. Parts o the string C are held between the top of the stopper and the seal G, and other parts of the string are held beneath the seal F, as shown in dotted lines in Fig.- 7; the knot c of the string being preferably hidden beneath the seal F. These two seals F .and G may carry any suitable trademark, or descrlptive advertising matter, such, for 1nstance, as peroxid.

These seals may be pasted or otherwise secured to the bottle neck, or to the top of the stopper, and are preferably made of paper printed with ink, black or colored, which will run should an attempt be made to remove the seals by dipping the same in water or other solvent for the gum or paste used in applying the seal to the bottle neck o'r stopper.

By having the knot c of the string C masked by the seal F, it will be impossible to pull the string through said seal without mutilating the seal.

With this construction it will be seen that the cork cannot be pulled by using the string without mutilating both of the seals, nor could it be pulled with a cork-screw without mutilating at least the top seal', and cutting the string where exposed, nor could the seals be removed and replaced without leaving evidence that the package had been tampered with.

It will be seen that, with the arrangement shown in Fig. 4f, if the capsule be pasted, gummed, or otherwise secured from within to the neck of the bottle, it cannot be removed without being torn; and in the same way with the arrangement shown in Fi s. 7 and 8, the stopper cannot b'e pulled wit out mutilatingl one or both of the seals.

In practice it may be desirable to use only a single seal, such as G on top of the stopper,

' but 1t is generally preferable to have the opened, and again unscrupulous dealers often refill, with spurious goods, packages that bear distinctive trademarks, and the use of the herein described seals and cork pulling attachment will render it impossibleA to eX- tract the stopper without showing that one or both of the seals has been tampered with. After the stopper has been pulled, the package will always bear evidence that it has been opened. The only way to show the seals as apparently. remaining intact would be to apply fresh printed seals, which would rarely be available to unscrupulous dealers.

It will be seen that by using the herein described varrangement it will not be necessary to have the stopper project above the neck of the bottle to form a finger grip, as the stopper may always be pulled out by the pulling attachment and reinserted by hand when desired. The result of this would be a great saving in the quantity of material used in formin the stopper, for the upper or exposed end 1s generally of greater diameter than the smaller end projecting down into the bottle, and thus the shortenin the upper end of the cork or stopper e ects a correspondingly greater saving in the amount of 'material used. This is very important where Stoppers are used in large quantity.

Moreover, the same stopper may be used over and over again, there being nothing to destroy or injure the stopper incident to the process of its removal; whereas in the ordinary process of pulling out a stopper the cork is irremedially damaged by the insertion of the cork-screw, or other pulling atvtachment.

Furthermore, another advantage of this herein described device is that there is no likelihood of any small particles of cork being broken off on the interior of the bottle, as frequently happens where corks are pulled with a cork-screw, especially when the corks are old.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. In a pulling attachment for corks, the combination with a doubled string passed through the cork and formin a loop beneath the lower end thereof, o a plug hav- Lamme ing'its body portion in the form of a trun cated cone, terminating at its smaller end in aV hook adapted to engage said string and being provided at its larger end with an annular shoulder adapted to engage the bottom of the cork, said plug being forced, While in engagement with said string, through the lower part of the opening in said cork formed by the passage of said string, and serving both as a liquid and gastight closure for said opening and as an abutment for said string when the cork is pulled, substantially as described.

2. In a pulling attachment for corks, the combination with a doubled string passed through the cork and forming a. loop be- EEB neath the lower end thereof, of a tapered.

plug provided with a shoulder at its larger end and having means at its inner and smaller end'for engaging said string, said plug being provided on those parts exposed to the action of the contents of the bottle with a layer of vitreous material, said plug being forced, while in engagement with said string, through the lower part of the opening in said cork formed by the passage of said string, and serving both as a liquid and gas-tight closure for said opening and as an abutment for said string when the cork is pulled, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature.

JAMES ALLEN. 

